Abstract

George Santayana – a philosopher, a critic of culture and an atheist deeply concerned with the issue of religion and secularization was an advocate of the idea of naturally founded human spirituality. Hence his critique of some modern forms of life which in his view were guilty of spiritual ignorance and the flattening of language. This essay, by juxtaposing Santayana’s ideas with those of William James, Peter Berger and Charles Taylor, aims at revealing some postsecular aspects of his thinking about religion and the unity they introduce into the large body of his eclectic writing. Santayana’s understanding of post-rationality commences in the idea that thinking rooted in a certain tradition and operating with certain terms allows for maintain a living mental structure which provides a favorable ground for spiritual growth and existential meaningfulness even after conventional forms of religiosity have faded.